Martin O'Neill is not backing down in his "little spat" with Ronald Koeman.

But the Ireland boss is adamant that James McCarthy should not be caught in the middle of the war of words that escalated between the managers following the World Cup qualifier against Wales in March.

The Everton midfielder was told to take responsibility for his situation by Koeman. Having trained in the build-up, McCarthy pulled up during the warm-up before the qualifier with more hamstring issues.

The Everton supremo also took to Twitter to hit back at O'Neill, who had described the Dutchman as a "master tactician of the blame game" as he defended McCarthy's role in the whole affair.

The McCarthy situation remains a contentious one. He hasn't played for the Toffees since March 5 and, as he looks to return to full training this week, O'Neill's intention is to use him next month if the midfielder is up to the strains of two or three international fixtures.

Koeman is certain to be unhappy at that prospect but speaking yesterday, O'Neill said: "I don't think that any little spat between two managers - if that's what you call it - should really impact on the player.

"I think the player's relationship with his club manager is obviously of vital importance.

"And I think their manager apportioned some blame to the player for not dealing with the situation himself - but it came out that it was really my responsibility to look after James.

"I thought at the time - it (my response) was a spur of the moment thing, and I thought it was quite good - that apportioning blame to somebody who has not been at their training ground for maybe 25 years, really, I think they should look inwards rather than outwards.

"That was the point - and I still have the same opinion."

O'Neill will treat McCarthy with kid gloves and won't pick him if the 26-year-old feels he's not 100 per cent ready to return.

The same goes for Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliott, who returned to the starting line up under Rafa Benitez in time to celebrate winning the Championship.

But Elliott, who missed a year with a knee injury, may get the summer off as he recovers from a several knocks.

Ireland will definitely be without his club colleague Ciaran Clark for the friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay and the World Cup qualifier against Austria at the Aviva Stadium on June 11.

The centre-back has seen a specialist and is out for up to eight weeks.

"It's a blow to Ciaran, and I felt that it would be great to have him back again," said O'Neill.

"And hopefully with (Shane) Duffy coming through - he will need the games of course - then that would have been interesting and been good.

'But he's going to be out."

The good news is that Brighton centre-back Duffy is on course to be fit after a fractured metatarsal and Jon Walters has also returned to action.

However a chunk of the 37-strong provisional panel have been off-duty since the end of the Championship season and O'Neill must contend with that problem.